The Red and White Ball raised almost 2.6 million dollars for charities in its 20 years of existence.

Red and White Ball

In 1986 Pari Livermore decided to raise funds for the American Heart Association in order to entice 25 of her single friends to join her she decided to give the event for 150 of the most eligible bachelors in the San Francisco Bay area.

Pari’s committee, who also selected their female friends to attend, spent the entire year interviewing the gentlemen who attended and in December the first Red and White Ball was born. The San Francisco Chronicle immediately selected it one of the Top 10 parties of the year.

The women who attended wore red, white or black ball gowns and the men were asked to wear tuxedoes with red tie and cummerbund. Each of the gentlemen selected submitted a photo of himself and a three sentence biography. The booklet which was produced became one of the most important highlights of the evening. There were no wall flowers at the Red and white, it was “ladies choice” all evening. The women in attendance paid a “dollar a dance” to whirl around the floor with the top bachelors in San Francisco. The gentlemen who collected the most dance tickets became the King of the event and the evening’s heartthrob.

The Committee which eventually grew to 100 women produced 14 Red and White Balls during a 20 year period. Many events had 1000 in attendance, 500 men and 500 women in equal numbers.

40 restaurants and 20 florists made donations to the events and the committee members chose a different charity to sponsor the event. Some of the non profits were chosen 2 or 3 times. They included such organizations as the American Cancer Society, the San Francisco Child Abuse Prevention Society, Camp Kasem National, the Family Caregiver Alliance, and the California State Parks Foundation.

The Fairmont Hotel or the Saint Francis Hotel two of the most elegant and prestigious hotels in San Francisco took turns donating their entire party space for the Red and White Ball and its charitable causes.

The Red and White Ball only accepted checks in payment for tickets to attend. All the funds collected went to through the accounts of the non profit sponsor. (Please see letters of support).

Putnam Livermore, Pari’s husband donated funds every year to help support the administrative needs of the Red and White Ball as the official headquarters of the Ball was always at Put and Pari’s home.

One of the 10 top parties of the year.

San Francisco Chronicle

The Red and White Ball is the premiere singles event in San Francisco.